She was awful.

But she smiled a lot and the judges seemed to like her.

At long last it was Margo's turn. She padded onto the stage, banana in hand, sat down, and peeled the banana with her feet.

I heard snickering in the audience. It was the triplets.

Margo professionally ignored them. She launched into "This Is the House That Jack Built." Since the stanzas of the poem get longer and longer, her performance went on for quite some time. In all honesty, I'm not sure that everyone understood just what she was doing with the banana, but they appreciated all her memorizing. Margo didn't miss a beat or a word. She left the stage with applause ringing in her ears.

(Another thumbs-up from Kristy.) All you have to know about the rest of the talent show is that there were four more contestants including Charlotte, and none of them was much good - especially not Charlotte, who completely forgot this pa.s.sage from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which she'd tried to memorize. She ran off the stage in tears. In fact, she refused to go on the stage again at all, and began crying so hard that Claudia had to go into the auditorium and find her parents so they could take her home.

Claudia looked crushed but decided to stay around to see what happened.

"b.u.mmer," I said.

"Yeah," agreed Claudia. "Well, now I'll just have to root for Claire and Margo and Karen and Myriah. No playing favorites."

The beauty parade came next, and I'm ashamed to say that by this time, the contestants were growing good and wary of each other. It was every little miss for herself. I heard Margo tell Claire to break a leg (and she really meant it), and I heard Claire reply, "I hope you fall off the stage."

But n.o.body fell off the stage.

The contestants, wearing their third outfits, filed across the stage in age order. I was beginning to feel like a real stage mother.

"Smile," I reminded each Pike girl as they were about to walk onto the stage.

They smiled like Cheshire cats.

It was time for the questions. My heart began to beat faster. I'd been uncertain about the talent show because I didn't know how the audience would react to the girls - but at least I'd known what the girls were going to do. The questions were a different story. Would Claire talk about Cabbage Patch dolls and fire extinguishers? Would Margo be asked to explain what she meant by global peace?

"I'm more nervous about this than anything else," I said to Mary Anne, and she nodded in agreement, frowning worriedly.

The youngest little miss was called onto the stage, and Mrs. Peabody regarded her thoughtfully. "What," she began, "do you like best about Stoneybrook?"

Whoa! What was that? A trick question?

The little girl frowned. "The ice-cream store," she replied.

The audience laughed gently.

I knew the kid had blown it.

The next girl didn't do much better.

Myriah's turn. She walked confidently onto the stage.

"If you could change one thing about this world, what would it be?" Mrs. Peabody asked her.

"It would be wars," Myriah replied seriously. "I would stop them. I would say to the people who were making the wars, 'Now you stop that. You settle this problem yourselves like grown-ups. Our children want peace.' That's what I'd change."

The audience applauded solemnly.

"Good job!" I whispered to Mary Anne. "Myriah was great. The audience loves her. I think she's really got a chance at the crown!"

"You do?" Mary Anne replied hopefully.

"Definitely. She's the most talented contestant here - you heard the audience cheering - and she's doing great in everything else."

"Hey, Dawn," Mary Anne replied. "It's Claire's turn."

I whirled around.

Ms. Bunting had just prodded Claire onto the stage. Claire walked to Mrs. Peabody.

"Claire," said the judge, "what do you hope for most of all?"

I held my breath.

"Santa Claus," whispered Claire, looking terrified. "I hope he's real."

The audience laughed. I groaned.

"Too bad," Mary Anne said. "She got nervous. Just like Charlotte. I don't blame her."

"Thanks," I said.

Karen Brewer's question was the one about the house on fire.

"She's prepared," I heard Kristy mutter, but she leaned around me and watched Karen anxiously.

You could almost see the wheels turning in Karen's head. She wanted to say the "right" thing-what Kristy had told her to say-but she simply couldn't bear to be dishonest. She answered, "I'd rescue Moosie my stuffed cat, and Tickly my blanket, and as many toys as I could carry. Oh, could I rescue a fourth thing? If I could, it would be my brother Andrew. Or maybe my pen that writes in three colors."

Another blown answer. Karen could kiss the crown good-bye.

It was too bad that Sabrina Bouvier went on before Margo because she used up the "global peace" answer in response to her question. So when Margo was asked what she would most wish to happen in the year 2010, she froze. She didn't want to look like a copycat, and I guess she couldn't think of anything else that was nice. After about thirty seconds of dead silence, Mrs. Peabody gently directed her off the stage. The audience clapped politely.

I put my head in my hands. Neither Claire nor Margo was going to win.

"Hey," said Claudia, "don't feel too bad. At least your contestants stuck it out."

"I wanted one of them to win something, though. I wanted to prove how good I could be with kids."

"You did!?" exclaimed Kristy. "So did I. I guess we all did. Maybe we learned something, though. Even the best baby-sitter can't change a kid."

"Yeah," agreed Mary Anne. "And I'd rather have a kid like any one of ours than like Sabrina Bouvier."

We agreed wholeheartedly with that. Then we fell silent. The contestants were filing onto the stage once again. It was time for the winners to be announced.

"Myriah's going to win!" Kristy exclaimed softly. "I just know it!"

Mary Anne looked a little faint, so we gathered around her with support. None of us felt jealous anymore - not of each other, anyway. We just wanted one of our kids to win, whoever it was. I'd be as happy with Myriah as with Margo or Claire.

"The second runner-up," cried the announcer, "is Little Miss Lisa Shermer, our ballerina!"

The audience cheered as Lisa stepped out of the line and crossed the stage to stand by Mrs. Peabody.

"The first runner-up is. . .Little Miss Myriah Perkins!"

I heard two sounds just then. A shriek of joy from Myriah, who, I'm sure, was thinking of Toy City, and a cry of anguish from Mary Anne.

"Why isn't she the grand winner?" she wailed.

But everyone quieted down as the announcer went on, "And now, folks, the moment you've been waiting for." (Someone handed Mrs. Peabody a small crown and a bouquet of roses.) "I am happy to announce that our very own Little Miss Stoneybrook is ... Sabrina Bouvier!"

The audience burst into applause, music began to play, and Sabrina was crowned. Photographers took her picture.

Mrs. Bouvier cried.

It was really disgusting.

My friends and I held a vehement, tortured conversation.

"Sabrina! How could they?!" exclaimed Kristy. "Myriah should have won."

"Told you," said Claudia knowingly. "Sabrina's a pageant-head. That's how these things work."

Our conversation came to an abrupt end as the contestants straggled backstage. As you can imagine, most of them were not very happy. In fact, Margo and Karen were in tears. They were both crying so hard they couldn't speak. When Margo dried her eyes and nose on the hem of her velvet dress, I didn't scold her. I just knelt down, took her in my arms and held her, letting her cry for as long as she needed to.

Nearby, Kristy was doing the same with Karen.

After a long time, Margo gulped and sniffled and said, "I tried my hardest, Dawn, honest."

"I know you did."

"And we're proud of you," added a voice.

Margo and I looked up. There were Mr. and Mrs. Pike and Mallory.

"Why are you proud of me?" asked Margo.

I glanced at Mallory, who gave me a look that said, "See what beauty pageants can cause?"

I shrugged. What else could I do? Claire and Margo had wanted to be in the pageant. It was their idea. This wasn't like Charlotte, who'd had mixed feelings about being in it.

"We're proud of you, honey," said Mr. Pike, leaning over and cupping Margo's chin in his hands, "because you were very, very brave to go out there on that stage in front of so many people. That took real courage. And you rehea.r.s.ed hard. Both you and Claire did. We're proud of you for that, too."

I turned away. I had no idea Margo would take losing so hard, but I guess I should have known.

I left her with her parents and looked around for Claire. I saw her talking to Myriah, Mary Anne, and Mr. and Mrs. Perkins. Claire didn't look upset at all. I guess different kids react different ways to the same experiences, Karen was still crying against Kristy's shoulder.

I joined Claire and Mary Anne and the Perkinses. I reached them just in time to hear Mary Anne say (again), "Myriah should have won the grand prize."

"But then I wouldn't have won the toys!" exclaimed Myriah, looking amazed.

Something occurred to me then. It was all about the unfairness of the pageant. Mary Anne was absolutely right. Myriah really should have won - if this pageant was honestly based on people's talents and character. But it wasn't. I was glad that because Myriah had been given such a terrific prize, she wasn't disappointed about not winning the grand prize. But I was sorry that she had to settle (even happily) for second best.

Mallory wandered over to us then, followed by Jessi, who I guess had been in the audience.

"Don't say it," I said to them. "I know. We all should have listened to you guys on the day the newspaper article came out."

"Well ..." said Mal, and I could tell that she and Jessi were just dying to gloat.

"I only want to say one thing," Jessi spoke up. "And I promise it isn't 'I told you so.' I want to say that now maybe it's clear how silly pageants are. 4 mean, look who won . . . and look who should have won."

"I know, I know, I know," I said testily. "I was thinking the same thing. I don't know what this pageant judged, but it sure wasn't talent and character."

"It was fake personality," Mallory p.r.o.nounced.

I had to agree with her.

"Dawn?" said Claire. "Can I be in the pageant again next year?"

I nearly pa.s.sed out. It was time to join the rest of the Pikes - quick! - and get home.

Chapter 15.

It took everyone - especially Charlotte - quite a while to get over the pageant. After all, Charlotte was the one who had run away in tears and had to be taken home.

Us baby-sitters discussed the pageant endlessly. The six of us sat around in Claudia's room most of Sunday afternoon. After we talked about how Mal and Jessi had been right, and the pageant wasn't fair and all that, Claudia (who looked a little teary-eyed) said, "I did a terrible thing."

"What?" asked the rest of us.

"I forced Charlotte into the pageant. I've apologized four times to her and her parents and they're being really nice about it, but I still feel awful."

"Well, you didn't actually force her into the pageant," Mary Anne pointed out. "You didn't pick her up and carry her kicking and screaming onto the stage."

"No," agreed Claudia, "but I did have to talk her into it."

"Well, I kind of did the same thing with Myriah," Mary Anne replied.

"And I kind of did the same thing with Karen," added Kristy. "They both wanted to be in the pageant, but we brought the subject up, hoping that that would happen. . . . And all so we could prove what good sitters we are. Pretty dumb. We know we're good sitters or we wouldn't have this great club!"

The rest of us laughed. But we couldn't forget the pageant. Not easily.